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History

Description

The name Te Anau Caves means caves of rushing waters.
It is a place of waterfalls, rapids and whirlpools.
This cave is a river cave with a subterranean white water called Tunnel Burn
Stream.
The trail winds around and crosses the rushing waters and is rather impressing.

You first take a cruise across the lake to arrive at the western shores of
Lake Te Anau.
At Cavern House the guided tours start, as more people are on the boat
than can go into the cave at once, several tours have to be made.

When our reviewer visited the cave, there were three tours, so the cave visit
took only a little more than a third of the time.
There was a detailed introduction for all visitors, which is necessary because
of the loud roaring of the white water inside the cave.
While you wait, there is time for refreshments at Cavern House or a stroll
through the native rainforest.
There is also a small exhibition on glowworms and the cave.

The glow worm grotto lies at the end of the cave and is visited on small
boats.
This cave is rather loud, so it is not so essential to be quiet to see the glow
worms, which are very sensitive to sound, at least sound they are not used to.
They are also sensitive to light, especially flashlight so the glow worm part of
the cave is not lighted and photography and video is prohibited completely.

Although the river cave is very impressive, the cave visit is rather short as
the boat ride to the cave makes most of the tour.
Our guess is to take an afternoon trip, as you will not see much landscape on
the night trip at 20:15.
If you are not interested in a boat trip, you should think about visiting one
the other show caves of South Island instead.
But if you have no chance to visit the Waitomo Caves, this is the only place to
see glow worms on South Island.